The Lamar City Council, Feb. 23, reappointed Burt Heckman to its airport board. He will serve another five-year term that will expire Feb. 1, 2020.

The opening was advertised in the local media, per the city’s policies and procedures, and Heckman was the only one who applied for the position.

The Airport Board voted to recommend Heckman for the position Feb. 18.

The council also reappointed Jack Van Hook to its library board. He will serve another five-year term which will expire Feb. 1 2020. Van Hook was recommended by the board Feb. 16, during their meeting.

Joint meeting

PCDI Chairman Rick Robbins told the Lamar City Council Feb. 23, that the organization would hold its first Economic Development 101 meeting and is inviting the city council and county commissioners.

The event will be held March 2, in the multipurpose room at the Community Building starting at 7 p.m.

“Our speaker will be Kari Linker, the economic executive director of Morgan County Economic Development, which is fort Morgan, Brush and the surrounding community. It ties in real well with Prowers County and one main city.”

The meeting is a start, Robbins said, before PCDI goes out to hire another executive director.

“We all need to be pointed in the same direction and decide how we would want to move forward to benefit Prowers County,” he said.

Library News

The World Trade Press online database AtoZ in the USA was renewed by the council during the meeting.

The database was originally added in Feb. 2014, and provides a large amount of information about the 50 states, the District of Columbia and five territories.

The cost of the database is $262.50 for 2015. There is no invoice to sign, Reynolds said, but the invoice includes the electronic renewal license.

“This is one of our newer databases and has been really popular for our patrons,” Librarian Debbie Reynolds said. “It has maps, facts and photos.”

In her research, she found out that the record high temperature in the state happened July 11, 1888 in Bennett at 114 degrees.

“If you think it was cold today, the record low was minus 61 in Maybell, Colo. in 1985,” she said.

Since its arrival in February 2014, 224 people have used the database.

Financial news

Building Material Supply (BMS) will the supply fertilizer for the parks, cemeteries and ball fields in Lamar for 2015.

The order will cover two fertilization cycles, one in the spring with the other in the fall.

Three companies bid on the order, BMS, Big R of Lamar and Van Diest supply of Webster City, Iowa.

“We put half of it on in the Spring and half on in the fall,” Parks and Recreation Director Rick Akers said. “We pay for it all at once and they store the remainder until we use it.

The City and Tractor Supply Company has already begun establishing a relationship for future possible endeavors. The company was not in business and could not bid on the 2015 fertilizer contract.

Golf Course

Council members approved $3,750 payment to Spreading Antlers Golf Club with for improvements made to the sprinkler system on the course.

The money was paid so it would not be late on a loan payment for the upgrade, but there is no agreement in place for the loan, Treasurer Kristin McCrea said, and there is no record of a promise to make such a payment so it was not put in the budget.

The city will need to change the budget to accommodate the payment, but will release the money right away.

Mayor Roger Stagner said he remembers the council committing to the project.

“The only thing we could find in the minutes was that it was brought to the council in 2009 and left out of the budget at that time,” McCrea said. “That was still part of the original five year agreement.”

Haggard asked for a work session and the golf board should come back and ask the city for the money.

“I talked to Board President Gene La Cost and Lisa McCullough, who is the treasurer,” Akers said. “I looked back and asked them if we have a contract and they couldn’t find anything, but said we committed to purchase new timers or something with their sprinkler system. Over the years, we have helped them with a lot of things.”

He said the board would be willing to come and discuss the matter so there can be an agreement with a formal ending date.

Miscellaneous

City Administrator John Sutherland said the council will take its retreat at Lamar Community College, March 25, but will be finished by 2 p.m.

“If we are as effective with this one as we were with the first one we will probably be out by noon,’ he said. “It will give us an opportunity to get defined about our goals for the year.”

He said the Prowers Medical Center construction, according to city figures, will come in at $7.6 million for the permit. The cost of the permit will be around $56,000, depending on the final dollar total.

“SAFEbuilt will review the plans for about $6,000,” Sutherland said.

Councilwoman Beverly Haggard said if PMC pays for the building inspection and any hours incurred that should be okay.

“I don’t think the city should be out any money, but I don’t think we should have to pay,” she said.

The council will have a work session on the matter.

Sutherland said he had some ongoing conversation with Lamar Partnership Incorporated Executive Director Shawna Hodge about the Days Inn expansion and she may end up negotiating an agreement to bring before the council.

“The reduction of the permit fee may not be the only approach,” he said. “We will bring some additional information back on that.”

The council got the latest about the street surface condition map and Sutherland said all of the roads have been assessed and marked on the map.

“We have poor roads at 8.28 miles,” he said. “It was 12.93 in 2013.”

Fair roads came in at 32.8 in 2013 and 32.8 in 2014.

“We have to work on that,” he said.

Good roads were 8.32 miles in 2013 an improved to 12.97 in 2014. Dirt roads stayed the same in 2014, 6.4 miles.

The city was awarded $5,000 from the state Internet Portal Authority and will work with the GIS grant.